- Museum number
- 1864,1007.212
- Description
-
Pottery: black-figure amphora. Designs black on red panels, with double row of dots along the top; accessories of white and purple.
(a) Ajax carrying off the body of Achilles: In the centre, Ajax moving to left, with helmet, cuirass, parameridia, and greaves, two spears and Boeotian shield, with device of one purple and two white pellets, carrying on his shoulder the body of Achilles, in a high-crested helmet and short purple chiton; the greater part of their bodies is wanting. In front of them is a female figure moving to left and looking back, wearing a fillet, long chiton, and himation with incised patterns. On the left is a bearded male figure to right in long chiton and himation, with a staff. On the right is a male figure to right, beardless, with long chiton and himation, and a warrior moving away to right; of these two, little remains.
(b) Two warriors marching to left, with visored helmets, greaves, spears, and shields, each with device of two pellets. Facing them is a beardless male figure in himation, with spear in left hand; on the right a similar figure moving away to right.
- Production date
- 510BC-500BC
- Dimensions
-
Height: 23.85 centimetres
- Curator's comments
-
BM Cat. Vases
The female may be Thetis or Briseis, cf. Propert. ii. 10 (9), 9.
For Ajax and Achilles, cf. Overbeck, Her. Bildw, p. 546, and Roscher, p. 51; also Berlin No. 1802.
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Attributed to Fikellura grave 283, based on evidence from Biliotti's marking on the object (grave number in pencil), Biliotti's Kamiros diary, Kamiros tomb list, British Museum register, departmental Kamiros index card. Description in Biliotti's Kamiros diary: Olpe black figures with white and crimson accessories on red ground (1 broken).
Attributions to find-spots are based on (1) Alfred Biliotti’s diary kept during excavations at Kamiros between November 1863 and June 1864, which records the contents of two votive deposits and over 300 graves; (2) entries in the Museum Register, often stipulating the find-spots of individual objects excavated by Biliotti; (3) the Kamiros tomb list, produced around the same time as his entries in the Museum Register. It lists the contents of each grave and votive deposit, along with their corresponding registration numbers; (4) the Kamiros index cards, written by Donald Bailey in the 1960’s. These mainly record the contents of graves from the Fikellura cemetery and are organised according to tomb group. All archives are kept in the Department of Greece and Rome. In addition, Reynold Higgins’ Catalogue of the Terracottas in the Department of Greek and Roman Antiquities (1954) has been checked for attributions to the Fikellura cemetery.
- Location
- Not on display
- Condition
- A large part of the sides and one of the handles missing.
- Acquisition date
- 1864
- Department
- Greek and Roman
- Registration number
- 1864,1007.212
